Denny
by Cunning Linguist
Summary: Denny's story before and after meeting Izzie. The story is mostly about them. Possibly some other couples later on.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Alright, well as you all know, these are not my characters, they are ABC's. I also have changed the storyline a little to my liking and as I hope, to yours also. Please review if you wish._

He walked to his black Mercedes after a day of work and was awaiting what was to come. He had known of it before but it was still exhilarating to think of it. His sister had planned him a surprise party. The party, itself was a show and a public announcement that he, Denny, had finally opened up his dream work place: a place dedicated to Alzheimer's patients and their care. Ever since his mother had been diagnosed and his cousin too, he couldn't bare to leave them in a nursing home where other patients of Alzheimer's and his family were given not enough attention, in his opinion, for their condition. His sister had been, as always, sloppy with the secrecy of the party and the planning. Therefore, less than 24 hours after she had decided to do this, he knew about it. As always, though, he would act surprised and be eternally grateful for the time and effort she put into it.

He arrived home to find the driveway empty, "_they always were good at concealing everything to the naked eye" _he thought to himself, and couldn't help smiling. He parked the car in the driveway, stepped out with his briefcase in one hand and the newspaper in the other and headed towards his front door. The second he stepped in, he sensed something was wrong. The lights were out and the house was as empty and cluttered as he had left it this morning. He walked over to his kitchen to see his answering machine blinking rapidly as it read: 25 messages. He never had that many messages before. He suddenly became increasingly worried and anxious as he prepared himself for what he was about to hear when he pressed the button to replay the message.

Pressing it, the first message began in a rapid and extremely worried tone,

"Denny, listen, dad had a heart attack and we're at the hospital right now come over to Seattle Grace whenever you hear this."

He was already out the door before he could even hear the next message.

Denny arrived less than fifteen minutes after he had heard the message that nearly made his heart stop. When he spotted his family, he also spotted a doctor speaking to them. As he got closer, he heard the words, " irregular heartbeat" and "pacemaker" as bits of the conversation the doctor was having with his family. When his family caught sight of him, they all lunged off their chairs and gave him a hug.

He embraced his family and made sure that his father was doing fine before realizing that the doctor was still there. He turned towards the doctor and saw that it was a "she" and she was incredibly young looking with her slim body, blond hair all messy around her face, and the look of pure sympathy on her face as she looked at all of his family and slowly ventured her eyes to his face.

He released his sister and held out his hand for the doctor to shake as she smiled and introduced herself as,

"Dr. Stevens".

"Nice to meet you Dr., I'm Denny. How is my father doing?"

"Well Denny, as i was just explaining to your family, he is doing fine right now but will be needing surgery soon due to an irregular heart beat we detected and we believe that a pacemaker would be an adequate solution to the problem."

"As long as my father is fine with the surgery I believe that would be best" Denny said, after he looked over at his family for their opinion.

She smiled and said, " Alright, thanks Denny, you can go ahead and visit your father now, and I will speak to you all later."


	2. Chapter 2

2

Denny was told he and his sister could go in first. Ushering his sister to his father's room, Denny once again became increasingly nervous in seeing his father, but was careful not to show it, for the sake of his sister and his father. As he entered and saw his father as great as he last remembered all of his fears were put aside and he smiled while he said,

"Well well well dad look at you all resting up.. didn't I have a party for myself today?"

Their father laughed and replied,"Well you know, i couldn't let you have all of the glory."

His sister quickly replied,"Hey... you knew?"

"Well, Kate, is it possible for me to not know with you planning it?"

"Funny, very funny" she replied.

Their father said then, "I didn't worry you all too much, now did I?"

"Not at all, in fact I myself, just arrived her about ten minutes ago. I needed a nap."

Kate laughed and then said in a more serious tone, " Dad your fine right? I mean are you feeling okay? Did they tell you about the irregular heartbeat and pacemaker idea they have?"

Their father knowingly reached for Kate's hand before he answered because he knew how much she really was more worried about him than she was putting on and he greatly appreciated his kids for doing that for him.

"Yeah, Izzy told me all about it and I told her that if it's alright with you, than it's alright with me."

"Izzie?" Denny asked.

"Yeah, my doctor." John, their father replied.

"Oh, Dr. Stevens, you mean." Denny realized.

"Someone calling me?" came a voice from the door as everyone turned to see the person they were just speaking of.

"Well, speak of the devil" said John laughing.

"Gee, thanks" said Izzie with an easy smile.

"I just came here to tell you that your surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at noon, and Dr. Burke will be operating on you."

"Not you?" questioned Denny.

"I'll be assisting in the surgery, but since I'm only just an intern, they don't trust me yet to operate by myself."

As she replied, she looked Denny straight in the eyes and gave him the oddest of feelings.


	3. Chapter 3

Although, he couldn't quite put his finger on the feeling, he knew it was something new.

Izzie felt the silence and quickly reacted by saying,

"If you have any other questions, please feel free to page me."

"Yeah, sure.. uh.. Dr. Stevens?" Denny intervened right as she was about to step out the door.

"Yes?"

"Can you give me that number?"

Her face flushed in embarrassment as she realized she hadn't given it to him. "Oh, I'm sorry, here's my card, everything is on there." she said as she gave a apologetic smile. As she walked out of the room, she smiled at her mishap and then spotted Meredith leaning over the counter looking over the various patient's charts. The look on Meredith's face only conveyed one thing.

"Long night?"

"I hate hangovers"

Izzie smiled as she responded, "I would feel bad for you... if you weren't sleeping with our boss."

"Is that all you see now when you look at me? I mean seriously, it feels like even on my grave it will just say, _slept with boss._"

As Izzie walked away she laughingly said, "I think that would be perfect for your headstone. In fact, I think that's what I'll most mourn... the fact that the joke would be gone to hell... literally.."

She heard Meredith mutter, "thanks" right before she walked out of earshot. She rounded the corner and spotted Bailey punching at the vending machine trying to pry something out. Izzie turned right back around to avoid contact and hounding.

"Stevens, are you ignoring me?"

Too late, she thought.

"Of course not."

"Good. Then you won't mind getting me my damn Snickers out of the machine, while I quickly see if my lab results are back yet."

"Fine with me" she said with a forced smile.

"I know it is." Bailey said with her ever present glare.

As soon as Izzie tried to make the machine give her the Snickers, she received a page that said: 911. Her heart stopped for a second as she realized that John was her only patient right now. She quickly dropped the issue of the Snickers and ran towards John's room. When she arrived there, she saw Denny and Kate's pale face and suddenly pressed the code blue button as the not so familiar flat line seared into her.

Denny and Kate were quickly ushered out of the room while Izzie was forced to put on gloves and all the other protective gear to try and revive John.


	4. Chapter 4

It was all a blur to her: the hectic room, touching the metal to his chest. The only memory she couldn't erase was the feeling of triumph and relief from when John was revived from the deadly slumber. She didn't remember checking his vital signs to reassure that he was stable. Although, this was all less than 10 minutes ago.

"How're you doing? I heard what happened." came a friendly voice from behind her. She had been sitting outside of the ER on the curb taking a brief break.

"I'm doing fine, George" she replied forcing warmness into her voice that she didn't feel.

"Here, come inside with me and get some coffee." he suggested.

"Thanks, but no, I need to go and talk to his family first."

"Alright. I'll just talk to you later then."

Denny held Kate in his arms to comfort her from the shock of what had just happened to their dad. He kept on reassuring her that everything was going to be fine. As did the rest of the family who, like Denny, kept their own feelings in check for the sake of Kate. For some reason, Denny had his faith in the Doctor.

When Denny saw her making her way towards the family, he quickly reacted by motioning his cousin to comfort Kate while he went to speak with Dr. Stevens. He wanted to make sure that if it was bad news, the family would hear it from him.

Izzie saw Denny making his way towards her and she saw the hidden traces of tension on his face. She tried to smile to ease him up and prepare him for some good news.

"I just wanted to inform you that your dad is doing great and I'm sorry for what happened back there." she said quickly to let him know that John's fine. The words did their purpose as Denny's face lightened into an incredible smile that enlightened his whole face and made her entire mind go blank.

"I can't thank you enough, Doctor." he smiled again and she lost her train of though again.

"Izzie..." she mumbled.

"What's that?"

she regained her composure. "Izzie. You can call me Izzie."

"Alright, well Izzie I'm going to go and tell my family the news so they can breathe, relax, and visit up with my dad." he said.

"Oh, yeah, i have to go, also. I'll talk to you later. She finished lamely.

"Yeah, same to you." he said and was about to walk away when he turned around again instantaneously and she looked down to see her hand holding onto his wrist.

"Would you like to have lunch with me?" she blurted out while she hastily let go of his wrist.

"I would love to but.." he didn't have time to finish the sentence before she responded.

"Oh, it's fine maybe some other time."and was about to walk away before she noticed a hand grabbing at her wrist. She turned to see him smiling the same smile as less than five minutes before.

"I would love to but, it's night out and i would rather have dinner instead." he said while looking into her eyes giving them both this feeling that there was definitely something sparking there.

"I'll page you after I'm done telling the family." All the while still keeping his eyes locked with her. If she had tried to talk, she would've failed miserable, therefore she just smiled a wide smile and walked off with her hand feeling an odd sensation all over as to where he had just held it.


	5. Chapter 5

Walking back to his family, he couldn't get Izzie out of his mind. The way she smiled at him the last moment, the way their eyes had held an almost palpable feeling that they both couldn't yet grasp as to what.

Reaching his family he already had their full attention the second he got there, so he began,

"He's doing great and now you all can visit him, too."

Izzie could see the relief on his family's face and the tension that left their bodies and the entire group of people which consisted of about five people as she looked upon them from a safe distance. Oblivious to the loud and obvious footsteps behind her, she kept on looking at Denny. The slight tap on her shoulder brought her back to being aware of her surroundings.

"Stevens, have you alerted the family of the timing change of the surgery?" came Dr. Burke's question.

Izzie looked at him with a perplexed expression. " timing change of surgery?"

"Stevens, it was on the board, I could get someone else who pays more attention than you because it has been there for at least a half an hour and I expect you, the patient, and his family by now." He gave a stern look as he said, "Alright, Stevens, it's your first slip-up, but next time know that this job isn't for people who daydream all day."

"Sorry Dr. Burke, won't happen again." she said embarrassed that Dr. Burke caught her while she was in that stupor. He walked away motioning towards the family.

As she turned, it suddenly occurred to her that John needed to be operated, she had to tell Denny and his family. The dinner slipped from her mind as she approached Denny again to inform him of what was going to happen. What she didn't except was to see Denny turn around just as she was coming there and the look in his eyes. The look stopped her short of fifteen feet near him as he closed the distance to five feet.

She told herself to stop this, and treat him like her patient's son, but then a smile crept up the corners of his lips as he said, "Well, hello."

"Hey Denny, I need to talk to you about your dad." she said in an attempt of a strictly professional voice, but failing miserably as she returned his smile at the end.

"Sure, shoot." he said easily.

"Dr. Burke had an opening tonight for surgery, therefore, they will be moving the surgery up to tonight and I just wanted to inform you." she said.

His face suddenly had visible strains of stress on it, and she was surprised she hadn't noticed before.

"Oh man, get over one punch, and here comes another." he said as he looked back at his sister and family who were still visibly relieved from the earlier news of John's safety.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go and prep him up for surgery, be sure to page me if you have any questions." she said as she ignored the impulse to offer comfort for the pain she saw on his face and walked away to tell John the change of plans.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Sorry about being so late on the update. I have exams to study for and projects to do, I should, though, update later on today!_**

As she walked into John's room she saw him with his eyes closed and a smile playing on his lips. They quickly snapped open as she entered the room, still having the smile on his lips.

"Well hey John, did I wake you up from a good dream?" she asked as she checked his stats on the monitor.

"Not a dream," he paused, looking into her eyes, making her stop checking everything and giving her a sense of deep loneliness being transferred through them,"A memory."he finished looking off out of his window at the night sky which had it's stars beautifully blanketed across the sky.

"It was on this day, forty-five years ago, that I proposed to my wife. I went through all the trouble in the world to make sure it was exactly right and that she didn't know anything about it before. I remembered her favorite flower: orchids and I put billions of them on the walkway behind my house that I had planned to propose to her on. It was a beautiful walkway that night, illuminated by the moon as the huge lake behind it was. I put candles along the walkway and then went back to her house where I wanted it all to begin. There, I left her notes that had everything on them from 'put on the dress I bought for you' to 'get in the car with the driver and put on the blindfold'. When they arrived, the driver led her out of the car and took off her blindfold in the beginning of the long walkway. She looked amazing that night, almost glowing, as it seemed like the moon put a spotlight on her. I still remember the confused wonderment on her face as she looked around for me and spotted my figure at the end of the walkway. She walked towards me basking in the beautiful orchids on the pavement along with the candles that lighted her path. As soon as she reached me I proposed to her and she said yes with all the happiness with a hint of tears in her eyes." he finished with tears in his eyes.

Izzie observed the sadness in his face and felt incredible compassion for John. She reached for his hand as he said, "I'm sorry about that, I never used to be like this when she was alive, but now it feels like I'm always like this."

"Don't worry about it, I loved listening." she said truthfully. "Now if you don't mind, John, I have to prep you up for surgery before Dr. Burke checks up on me again."

"Surgery? Isn't that tomorrow?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"Oh sorry, forgot to mention that we had a time opening and had to change it totoday. You should be happy that you can get out of here faster." she said.

"Thank God for that." he said as she smiled at the remark.

She took him, then, to the OR for prep.


	7. Chapter 7

After prepping John for the surgery, Izzie left the OR. As she came out of the room, a patient being wheeled by her suddenly turned his head towards her and threw up all over her scrubs. As he profusely apologized for the accident, she reassured him that she was fine. She decided, then, to go down to the locker room and change quickly before surgery.

When she arrived, she walked over to her locker only to find an envelope sitting on the bench in front. She was slightly confused because she never got any letters, especially sent to the hospital. She almost lost her balance and had to grab onto the bench for support as she saw who it was from: Mary Ford. She opened the letter with care.

She read the first few lines and realized why Mary had sent her the letter. Hannah had been hit by a bus when she had tried to get a dog out of the way. She had died two days ago with complications of internal bleeding. Mary had sent her the letter informing her of her eleven year old daughter's death.

The news played over and over in Izzie's mind as she changed and walked out of the room with the letter clutched in her hands. She walked down the hallways as she spotted Bailey reading what looked like lab results off to the side; she needed someone to tell before she left. Bailey instantly recognized her presence and began

"Look, Stevens, when I tell you that I want a Snickers out of a machine, and I order _you_ to get it out, I better see a Snickers in your hand the next time I see you. I don't care for excuses." She said without even looking up from her lab results.

"Doctor Bailey, I…I think th-that I'm going to leave e-early today," she swallowed the lump in her throat as she saw Bailey look up from the results with a perplexed look on her face at Izzie's tone.

"I have a patient who is about to go into surgery and I think Doctor Burke is expecting me, but I really have to go Doctor Bailey, so if you could, please tell Doctor Burke that I'm sorry, but I really need to get going now." She said in a rush of words, in her usual fashion, but Bailey saw the lack of life in Izzie's eyes as she spoke.

"Stevens, what's going on..?" She said.

Any other time, Izzie would have reveled in the achievement of finally making the infamous Doctor Bailey speechless, but Izzie just couldn't even muster up enough energy as she attempted an apologetic smile and headed for the nearest exit.


End file.
